Allegra! (Introduction to Romansh)

Phrasebook and grammar
for Puter (a Romansh dialect)

Of the 6.5 million people who live in Switzerland,
roughly 75% speak German. Another 20% speak French, 4% are fluent
in Italian, and fewer than 1% (some 48,000 citizens of Canton
Graubünden) are native speakers of the ancient language known as
Romansh.

Romansh probably dates back
1,500 years or more. The language is based on the so-called
vulgar Latin, or "people's Latin," with influences from
Etruscan, Celtic, and other languages spoken by early settlers in
the mountain valleys of what are now the Grisons and Italy's
South Tirol. It was officially recognized as Switzerland's fourth
language on February 20, 1938, and was formalized as the written
language of Rumauntsch in 1982.

The language encompasses the
dialects of Puter, Vallader, Jauer, Surmiran, Sutsilvaun, and
Sursilvaun, together with Ladin (spoken around Bolzano and
Cortina in Italy's Dolomites) and Friulaner (used by some 500,000
people along the Adriatic coast north of Venice). To make matters
more complicated, the term "Ladin" is also applied to
the Puter, Vallader, and Jauer dialects of Switzerland's
Engadine. None of this matters to the tourist, who's likely to
think a Romansh street sign or newspaper headline is written in
mispelled Italian.

Do you need to learn Romansh in
any of its many flavors before you visit Canton Graubünden? Not
at all. But you'll amaze the locals if you're able to use even a
smattering of the local dialect--so make up a cheat sheet with
these basic expressions in the Ladin spoken by natives of St.
Moritz, Pontresina, and other tourist resorts of the Engadine:

Hi!

Allegra

Good morning, good day

Bun di

Good evening

Buna saira

Good night

Buna not

Bye, ciao!

Ade

Good-bye (formal)

A revair, Bun ans vair

Thank you

Grazcha

Sir / Ma'am / Miss

Signur / Duonna / Matta

Excuse me

Ch'el s-cüsa

Toilets

Tualettas

TIP: If you visit St. Moritz, walk or
take the train down to Celerina (Schlarigna), just two or three
kilometers away, and visit the Chesin Manella der Uniun dals
Grischs in the center of town just to say "Allegra"
and catch a glimpse of the local cultural scene. (If you speak
German, you can also pick up a brochure on the Romansh language.)